Deadline

Topics relating to the death penalty: Race and income, percent of nation that supports death penalty, Stephen Bright's quote

I am for the death penalty, but after watching snippets of Deadline (due to my absence) I began to question my own opinion. Why are people against the death penalty? Is it because of the flaws in the justice system? I realized that this was the reason; the justice system is far from perfect.  I realized that race and income play a very important role in capital punishment. Although most of the death row inmates are white, many colored and low-income people are convicted. Therefore two main factors that contribute to the flaws in the justice system are that police use racial profiling and the jury make mistakes in the trials. The police are under a lot of pressure to convict someone and find them guilty when a high-profile crime is committed. The police become too eager, taking over their judgement and making them less efficient; a confession might be forced out of someone and false evidence can be used to incriminate a suspect. And many times, police even profile others, taking into account one's race or income. According to studies, those that are most sentenced to death are those in the fringes of society. In California, 252 blacks were executed. In Texas, 129 were executed and 139 in Florida. When someone of lower class is before a jury, the jury will find it difficult to relate to the person, ultimately finding them guilty more quickly due to the lack of empathy and understanding. Racism also lingers in the court and juries discriminate against those on trial. Although people are trying to eliminate racism by keeping an open-mind, it is still evident in society today. In Deerfield, I believe we are very accepting and not racist. Yet, almost our whole school and community population is white. I feel as if society is split into different niches. And Deerfield is an example of a niche, mainly consisting of white people. People always say how society is integrated and accepting despite race and ethnicities, but in reality it visibly is somewhat segregated. This segregation also carries into Court; a white jury is more likely to punish the murder of a white person. To overcome this racism and flaw, the justice system needs to gather juries with different backgrounds, making it diverse just like the rest of society.

Of the states that allow the death penalty, about 65% of Americans are in favor of it. In class we have studied the different factors of the death penalty, but I believe the strongest idea is "the idea of an eye for an eye." This assures that someone will always be punished. When a crime is committed, people's gut reaction is to punish he or she according to the magnitude of the crime. Some people believe one should suffer as much as its victim did. So if someone took someone else's life, the murderer should also die. However, Americans still believe that if one is sentenced to death that they are guilty of the crime. This is incorrect; many death row inmates are found innocent with thorough investigation and new evidence. Studies show that 187 clemencies were granted and 20 people were freed from death row. Stephen Bright stated, "This was the third person released by journalism students at Northwestern, and of course it doesn't say much for our legal system when people spend sixteen years on death row for a crime they. . . didn't commit. And that ultimately comes to light not because of the police of the prosecution, or the defense lawyers or the judicial system, but because a journalism class at Northwestern took it on as a class project to see whether or not these people were guilty or not. You know, if those students had taken chemistry that semester, these folks would have been executed." This shows how the U.S. justice system is far from perfect because several of inmates are proven innocent and released. Yet, many that are never proven innocent are still executed. People question if practicing the death penalty is worth those innocent lives or that the death of the innocent does not nearly compare to the good they are doing by executing the guilty. I find upsetting that Northwestern students proved someone innocent, not the justice system. This shows that the justice system does not always correct its own mistakes. I hope the justice system is improved to efficiently save lives.